Eddie Howe goes to bat for ex Celtic manager as 'deep alarm' sets in at new club amid calamitous start
The ex Celtic and Tottenham boss is already under pressure south of the border after Nottingham Forest lost to Newcastle United
Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe has defended former Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou as he faces sacked in the morning chants at Nottingham Forest.
The man who won the Europa League at Tottenham last season and five trophies from six domestically while in Glasgow has got off to a bad start at Nottingham Forest. A 2-0 defeat at the weekend to Newcastle United has poured more pressure on the Australian with fans at the City Ground already hitting him with ‘sacked in the morning’ chants.
Howe was the leading contender for the Celtic job in 2021 before he pulled out the running and paved the way for Postecoglou to earn his first crack at European football. The Newcastle boss has had his say on the nagging voices coming down on Postecoglou and says it’s something all gaffers are aware of.
Eddie Howe on Ange Postecoglou
He said: “I think we all know when we go into the job the fragility of it really. No amount of success previously can take you out of that firing line. We're all in it. We're all subjected to the same forces we're dictated to by results. But I think in any moment, whether it's good or bad, you've just got to be yourself, which Ange very much is.”
Reporting from The Telegraph leading into the Newcastle United defeat read: “Ange Postecoglou is fighting for his Nottingham Forest future and facing a potentially pivotal game at Newcastle United on Sunday. Postecoglou’s position as Forest’s head coach is already in doubt, just 24 days into his tenure, with owner Evangelos Marinakis understood to be growing seriously concerned by results and performances.
“Forest have failed to win in the six matches since Postecoglou’s appointment, losing four of them, and the reaction of home supporters, some of whom chanted “you’re getting sacked in the morning” during the Europa League defeat by FC Midtjylland, has triggered deep alarm behind the scenes.”
What Ange Postecoglou said after loss to Newcastle United
Speaking after the Newcastle defeat, the former Celtic manager said: “I see it as an exciting opportunity. You have to be up for the fight and the struggle. I’d be silly to be sitting here at the age of 60 if I lacked self-belief or fight. Even in the schoolyard I picked fights with people that beat me up.
“I get that it’s part of the fanfare of the Premier League that it needs one manager to be in the spotlight. If people want to assess me three and a half weeks into the job, there’s nothing I can say or do that will change that.
“But what I have seen and felt in this period is that we are heading in the direction I want us to. The results will come. In the meantime it is a struggle and a fight and there is nothing wrong with that. We don’t have things handed to us on a plate in life, we have to fight. I have fought for things all my life. Why does everyone want everything neatly packaged? The attitude today seems to be that as soon as something goes wrong, you change it.”